Bilfinger secures 210 jobs with new BP deal

Engineering firm Bilfinger has secured 210 jobs after winning a deal to carry out maintenance work on key Scottish oil and gas infrastructure for another five years.

Oil major BP handed Bilfinger’s industrial services unit the contract for providing a range of support services at the Forties pipeline system terminals in Grangemouth and the Sullom Voe terminal in Shetland.

The deal replaces a previous agreement from 2015, according to Bilfinger, whose group headquarters are in Germany.

A spokesman for Bilfinger said recent announcements about planned changes in ownership of the Forties pipeline and Sullom Voe would not affect the contract award.

Earlier this month, Ineos said it had agreed to buy the Forties pipeline system from BP for £200million.

The 235-mile Forties system links 85 North Sea oil and gas assets to the UK mainland and the Ineos site in Grangemouth.

The transaction is expected to go through in the third quarter of 2017.

In January, EnQuest said it would take over operatorship of Sullom Voe, as well as BP’s North Sea Magnus field, in a deal worth £68.3million.

BP said it aimed to complete the sale and transfer of operatorship during 2017.

Bilfinger’s spokesman said: “Bilfinger will be working with all parties to understand the transition process in due course.”

Duncan Hall, executive president of north-west Europe region, Bilfinger, said: “The midstream contract is key to our operations in the UK and the five-year extension is testament to the work we’ve delivered across these assets for BP since the partnership began in 2010.”